Finally obtained Walking Stick Palms

Linospadix monostachya - Walking Stick Palm has to be my favourite rainforest understory plant of Australia. I recently learnt about the palm natural distribution is Northern NSW and QLD, and just had to get some, and finally after a few months of trying to find some online, I found some. So I've purchased 10 of them. I can't wait to receive them in the mail.

The Walking Stick Palm grows to 2-3 metres on average; has a trunk size of 3 cm; and prefers to grow in the shade. It can adapt to some sunlight. It flowers in early Autumn and the florets turn into a string of orange or red berries. However, it is a slow growing plant, so to reach maturity will take a long time. How many years it will take before it developes flowers and fruit is anyone's guess. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how long it takes.

My Walking Stick Palms will be grown inside until they are bigger and will beautify my lounge room with their presence.

The southern grassed driveway

Currently, and for all the time I've been here at these flats, this is what the driveway looks like. It is slightly sloped and covered in grass. It is not appealing nor enjoyable to look at. The whole area needs a makeover. The driveway is used a lot so there can only be, at the most, two garden beds taking up a small amount of space on both sides of the driveway. And, of course, a lot of plants added to it.

For the right garden bed, as the carport supports have been set into concrete, I was thinking of adding some plants that will trail up the inside of the carport or have some narrow shrubs against the side of the carport. 

The driveway itself is actually wider than it looks in this photo, and the driveway and backyard slopes toward the southern fence (far left in the photo above).

The picture below is the kind of look I am after for this driveway but reduced in size to allow for vehicles to drive through it and to park around the back.

By creating the odd shrub that sticks out on the left of the driveway I can create some privacy at the back of the driveway as well. In the corner of the driveway at the back, with privacy permitting, I want to create an outdoor sitting area right in the corner but allowing enough room for vehicles to reverse out of the driveway. This would mean getting rid of the corner garden triangle shaped garden sleeper bed and make that whole area curved. It would also have to be higher up than ground level but not too high as to see over the fence.

With the placement of some smaller growing trees on the left of the driveway along the fence line garden bed I can create shaded areas and space for smaller growing plants and annual flowers, even some vegetables.

I already plan on adding a Koda tree; 4 Small leaf Tamarind trees and 1 Blue flax Lily to this area. I need to look into buying some native plant seed because I will need several hundred plants of lots of different species just to get started, and if I bought plants it will cost me a lot more money than I dare to think about. So seeds are the way to go. Finding the right plants might be the challenging part but I'm up for the challenge.

Tidying up by my front door

After trying to figure out a way to make the front entrance look nice I decided it'd look a lot nicer with 2 Cabbage Palms out the front in pots. So yesterday I potted the one on the right in this photo up, and brought the remaining of my plants outside that need to go into the ground (left of the door).

What I really want to do is create an area out the front where I can sit and relax but have some privacy as well. It's difficult to create privacy when I currently have nothing to use as a screen. I was thinking of putting both my bins side by side to create a small screen on the left of the door, and put the plants on the right of the door to the left of the door. That would just leave the palm on the right side of the door. Hmm.... I'm hoping to figure something out soon.

I think I need some more plants just to use as screening that I can grow in pots. I'll see what I can find online.

3 garden beds almost completed

Sunday, 20th September 2015
Finally done some catch up gardening and planted 8 more plants into the garden and weeded. Only one third of the entire properties' garden has been weeded (and has a half decent garden). And then I had to water the 3 garden beds.

As I was weeding and planting as I was going several birds came to investigate my gardening activity. A Pied Currawong flew in several feet from me then flew to my bin and just watched me; a minute later it took off. A pair of Red Wattlebirds? flew in and perched on the power line going to the flats and looked at what I was doing; chirped a lot then flew away. Australian Magpies hung around me and went through the weeded area looking for bugs and found lots of them. Birds of many different species always take an interest in what I'm doing when gardening, as if they approve of or are excited about what I'm doing, especially if I'm planting plants in the ground.

Only disappointed about one thing: I lost a Coral Creeper to slugs. I have another one so it's not a complete waste/loss.

Being undecided about what to plant where today I just randomly selected plants and put them in the ground, including my dwarf Daylily that I had in a pot. I think I'm going for a random look for the garden. Just throwing plants in here and there but planting the trees in the centre of the beds. Once I've got my coleus seeds germinated and they're big enough they are going into the garden as well, for a splash of leaf colour.

The photos below go from left to right, minus the footpaths and half a garden bed, when facing the road (Pelham Street) looking due east. The first photo begins where Flat 1's letter box is; the last photo ends at the southern end driveway.

Two unknown seedlings I discovered the other day that self seeded.

Long awaited weeding done today

Finally done some catch up gardening today, spending about 4-5 hours out in the garden and planted 8 more plants into the garden and weeded. Nearly all that time was spent just weeding the outside of the garden beds. Only one third of the entire properties' garden has been weeded (and has a half decent garden). And then I had to water the 3 garden beds.

As I was weeding and planting several birds came to investigate my gardening activity. A Pied Currawong flew in several feet from me and landed on the fence then flew to my bin and just watched me; a minute later it took off. A pair of Red Wattlebirds? flew in and perched on the power line going to the flats and looked at what I was doing; chirped a lot then flew away. Australian Magpies hung around me and went through the weeded area looking for bugs and found lots of them. Birds of many different species always take an interest in what I'm doing when gardening, as if they approve of or are excited about what I'm doing, especially if I'm planting plants in the ground.

I am only disappointed about one thing: I lost a Coral Creeper to slugs. I have another one so it's not a complete waste/loss and that one hasn't been munched on by anything.

Being undecided about what to plant where today I just randomly selected plants and put them in the ground, including my dwarf Daylily that I had in a pot and a Cabbage Palm. I think I'm going for a random look for the garden. Just throwing plants in here and there but planting the trees in the centre of the beds. Once I've got my coleus seeds germinated and they're big enough they are going into the garden as well, for a splash of leaf colour. I'll keep some of the coleus plants in pots to spread the colour around the garden.

Yesterday, on my way home from town, I saw an ivy plant in someone's garden that was hanging a foot next to the footpath so I grabbed a small end piece of the plant. I plan on getting ivy to grow in the garden too. I also saw another groundcover which I liked so I grabbed a piece of that too.

I plan on planting a lot of different plant species in the garden so I'll always have something different to look at. It will be interesting to see everything in flower. I plan on getting some of the weeds to germinate and grow in the garden too as I noticed the native bees were hanging around the flowers of one specific weed. I pulled those weeds up regardless of the bees.

Pretty soon the garden will start growing and will be a mass of flowers to attract the bees.

I'm after a certain look for my garden

Having a narrow in width and long in length garden beds has limited me in designing a garden that will display all the plants I want to add to it. I love a lush green garden especially one that looks tropical. But here lies the problem: even a tree like a wattle tree will take up too much mid ground room leaving less room for me to walk around the front lawn. The lawn has to stay regardless so I have to come up with inventive ways to create the look I want with the plants I have already and will purchase in the future.

This is the kind of look I'm after with my garden, generally.

But with a whole lot of colour at various times of the year as in this image below.

I am after various foliage texture, shape and size, leaf colour variations, and flowers that are not only colourful but unique and spectacular to look at. All the while I am trying to achieve this with mostly Australian native plants.

My recently purchased Cabbage Palms (an Australian Native) and a few native trees will add the texture, fragrance of flowers and a general tropical feel to my garden. However, the trees naturally will grow the wrong shape that I want in my garden so changing the way they grow is my only option.

I'm currently trying to come up with a design to intertwine some of the tree branches once they get older so the trees not only create a canopy of shade but will be difficult to know which plant is which. Planting trees close together might hopefully reduce their ability to grow to their full height. Its a theory I still need to research.

Experiment 1 - Wattle tree growth habit

I am not into the habit of wanting to prune trees or any kind of plant really. I prefer to let them grow any which way they want to grow. However, in the case of my wattle tree which I know will grow more than 3 metres tall, I am after a different kind of look for the tree without me having to prune it.

Currently, my wattle tree is not growing because it has been transplanted into the ground deeper than normal and is sharing the same root space with another plant species which has a massive fibrous root system. I did not want to damage either root system of either plant when transplanting them into the ground so I did not separate them so they'd grow separately.

Now, with the wattle tree I am experimenting with it by sending it telepathic messages and having certain thoughts of it growing a certain way. To start with I want the wattle tree to grow straight up with no side branches until it is at least 3 metres tall. Then I want the tree to develope side branches and to have these side branches grow outward to form an umbrella shape. Then I want the wattle tree to create an umbrella look with it's leaves and flowers to hang down, not only creating an unusually shaped wattle tree but will keep the bees higher up in the canopy, so I can sit underneath the tree without being bothered by the bees when it's in flower.

Testing to see if a plant/tree will respond to this unusual request in it's growth will be interesting. I am not even sure if it is even possible.

My wattle tree is barely 30cm tall at the moment and is surrounded by celery and a Philodendron giganteum; Philodendron maximum; Philodendron gigas; or Philodendron speciosum. It is more likely to be a Philodendron speciosum, as every part of the Philodendron giganteum is poisonous and I've yet to be ill from touching my Philodendron plant and roots. I'm still trying to identify which Philodendron species it is but it has died down because the frost killed it. It's not dead for good, as I planted it deeper than normal so it's roots will not be affected by our heavy frosts. It will reshoot in due time I hope.

Only time will tell when my wattle tree will take off and start growing. I thought it would've started growing by now being spring but it hasn't. Oh well!

Unknown tree/shrub 7-18 August 2015

On the 7th August 2015 I discovered a second, and larger, specimen of my unknown tree/shrub. It was directly opposite the ST. Jospeh's Catholic Primary School on Scott Street, Tenterfield, NSW. It was right by the fence near the pedestrian crossing that the school children use. I was delighted, and realised my plant had probably come from further afield than my neighbour's front yard.

Photos taken on the 7th August 2015 of this second specimen.

Then on the 11th August a few more photos were taken of this 2nd specimen as seen below.

Then on the 16th August I walked passed the same plant but had no camera so no photos were taken of it. The very next day, on the 17th August, expecting to see the plant still there, it was gone. Someone had come along and removed it with minimal disturbance. They probably chopped it down to ground level as the grass growing around the base of the plant had not been disturbed at all.

Here's photos of where the unknown tree/shrub second specimen should've been, taken on the 18th August 2015.

Instead only a few leaves lay on the ground where this plant once was. The plant stood 6 feet tall before it was removed/cut down.

Now, going on the fact my plant was hard to kill and it does seem to be in the process of regrowing, this second specimen may actually grow back considering it's roots were not disturbed.

The discovery of this second specimen was purely by chance. The normal route I took into town had to be avoided because Masked Lapwings were nesting in that area and I'd already been swooped by them. To avoid the Lapwings my brother and I instead walked along Scott Street and I stumbled across this second specimen. It'd been there for years by the look of it but I only recently noticed it's existence.

I'm glad these photos were taken, by my brother as at the time I did not have a camera of my own, as at least I know what my plant will look like when it is 6 feet tall. Whether this second specimen flowered or not I will never know now.

It disturbs me that people here in town chop plants down without trying to identify the species first, or assume it is a noxious weed by the way it looks.

Comparing my specimen and this second specimen it seems that they both turn yellow in winter because of the heavy frosts and cold night time temperatures. I thought mine turned yellow because I sprayed it with Eucalyptus Oil until I discovered this second specimen and it's leaves were yellow also. Spraying mine with Eucalyptus Oil just apparently made my plant drop it's leaves. It was not the reason why it's leaves turned yellow.

Knowing this truly excites me because this plant species is really tough, so tough that a drenching of Eucalyptus Oil spray won't kill it. My plant took the spray in it's stride, dropped a few leaves, and just kept surviving. They also seem to be drought resistant once they start getting bigger than one foot tall. Surprisingly their roots are slow to grow too so you could easily transplant one that's 6 feet tall without any problems.

Unknowns, natives, flowers and celery

Initially I started creating garden pockets of plants here and there throughout the front garden. I wanted to do a lot to the garden but was reluctant to do anything major to the garden. I had several potted up plants which some have now been planted into the garden whilst others are still in pots.

All the plants, in my opinion, are mine as I have bought them or collected them myself. Every plant I put into the ground is a risk of it being removed and killed by the next new landlord. A risk I often don't want to take for the most part. I'd prefer to keep the plants in pots so they at least remain alive and have a longer lifespan than 7 years.

Struggling with the idea of having my pot plants in the ground, I also wanted to start a vegie garden somewhere, as another neighbour had the same idea. So I bought some celery seedlings and planted them in the ground. I was quite surprised to find that my celery plants were not only frost tolerant but also survived icy cold southerly winds and 2cm of snow that happened back in mid July.

The wattle tree I transplanted into the ground.

Celery at the back and to the right of the wattle tree.

Leaf litter at base of my unknown tree/shrub.

Unknown tree/shrub surrounded by succulents and flowers.

Closeup of leaves of the unknown tree/shrub.

My unknown tree/shrub is a mystery to me. I found it a few years ago growing across the road in my neighbour's garden. It had germinated through the dispersal of bird droppings on the west side of their garden. I originally thought it was a plant species seedling from my neighbour's garden. Only recently I found out this to be untrue.

It is not a privet or lantana or even a firethorn plant. It is not decidous and it seems to grow in a shrub habit with open branches. This plant is about 8 years old now and it has not flowered or fruited in all that time. Despite it's often rough treatment by me it has survived snow, heavy frosts, drought, infrequent rain, being transplanted several times, lightly root pruned, and heavy pruning by me. It's a tough plant to kill.

Currently it does not look at all that good but it has stopped dropping leaves and looks like it is starting to show signs of growth. Not long after I transplanted it into the ground I sprayed it with Eucalyptus Oil as it looked like it had an infestation of bugs on it. The plant began dropping it's leaves for almost 2 weeks then suddenly stopped doing that and then stabilised and stopped growing. Mind you, it stopped growing the moment the colder weather set in, in late Autumn.

This unknown plant/shrub has barely done anything at all since I planted it into the ground but as the warmer weather is now upon us, to a degree, I suspect it may take off and do some growing this spring/summer. Over winter and during the times of our Autumn frosts, it's lovely lime green leaves began turning yellow. Those yellow leaves are beginning to green up now, albeit ever so slowly.

All I know about this plant is it has shallow roots, loves lots of water, seems to prefer TLC and lots of leaf litter and for it's roots to be cool and deep. When I transplanted this plant into the ground I planted it deeper than normal so it's roots would always remain cool, even in the height of summer, and pruned it so it looks more open and there are no cross branching. I throw all my kitchen scraps onto the ground surrounding this plant.

Why this plant has not flowered yet is beyond me. Being 8 years old (or even older), and very slow growing, you'd think at least it would've shown some signs of flowers by now. Some Australian native plants will not flower before they are 7 years old and then they start flowering. These 7-8 year old plants are always longer lived than other natives. So, I'm assuming it is a long-lived species of tree or shrub. I'm hoping it will flower either this year or next year, so I can identify what species it is. But because I heavily pruned the plant and transplanted it into the ground I have my doubts that it will flower this year. It will be busy trying to establish itself into the ground, which means, it will be growing roots still.

Fruit tree seed germination using ziplock bags

Since the 27th July 2015 I have been germinating fruit tree seeds using a new method I discovered on Youtube. Basically, you remove the seed coating from the washed seed of a lemon, lime, orange, mandarin, pear, etc and place the seed/s on a damp paper towel, fold the towel over, then seal it all in a ziplock bag. You then put the bag in a container with a lid and place in a warm spot.

Not having a warm spot in my place in winter I decided to put my container on top of my modem for my internet from time to time. I have Mandarins, Lemons, Pears, and one Yellow Pawpaw that have germinated to date. Basically every seed I germinated this way has germinated or in the process of germinating.

These seeds below were the beginning of my Mandarin seeds germinating.

All the Mandarin seeds have germinated but the weather has been too cold for any real progress for the seeds to sprout above the surface yet. The only seed that has sprouted above the surface is a lone Pear tree seed pictured below.

The Pear tree is so tiny with it's 5 little leaves but it is growing roots fast and has made more leaf growth in the last few days. I will soon need to repot it.

Today I checked all my remaining seeds, and had to pot up 1 Yellow Pawpaw, 2 Pears, 2 Mandarins, and 2 Lemons. Finally all my lemon and mandarin seeds have germinated.

Below is a picture I took today of 2 of the Pear seeds that had germinated, and I was quite surprised at how big they were.

I have a total of:
1 x Yellow Pawpaw seedlings
2 x Lemon seedlings
3 x Pear seedlings
7 x Mandarin seedlings

That's going to be a lot of fruit from 13 trees. I already have a home for all of these seedlings that I am not keeping. I have more pear and pawpaw seeds trying to germinate but with the warmer weather on the way I'm sure they will germinate very soon.

I am also trying to germinate fig seeds and star fruit seeds but both just don't seem to want to germinate. I didn't try to germinate these particular seeds the same way as the ones in the ziplock bags.